Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says the White House is not keeping anything on the trade deal from him, despite rank-and-file Democrats complaining that they have largely been left in the dark.
According to Politico, details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal are only available to members of Congress at classified briefings. Members must leave their cell phones outside the briefing room and are observed as they pore over the documents. Whatever notes they write down must be handed over.
“It’s like being in kindergarten,” Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro told Politico. “You give back the toys at the end.”
Reid has had a different experience.
“They haven’t been secretive with me, because I know what’s in the document, generally speaking, and have enough knowledge of the bill that I don’t care,” Reid told reporters Tuesday. “I know how bad it is. I’m leaving this to my colleagues to parse out what’s good and bad in the bill. I have an idea as to where I’m headed. I’ve said that for weeks.”
Inter-party fights on the trade deal on both sides of the aisle place Reid in an odd position. On one hand, he may very well be personally against the president’s trade deal. On the other hand, as leader of his party in the upper chamber he must be loyal to the president.
Republican leadership in both houses both want to give President Obama authority to “fast-track” the trade bill, but conservative Republicans and the majority of Democrats in the House are fighting the legislation for their own reasons. Conservatives like Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions say, for example, that the bill will cause more illegal immigration into the United States. Liberals, however, call it “NAFTA on steroids.”
The renewal of the president’s authority on the matter would give him the ability to negotiate trade deals that go straight to Congress for an up or down vote sans the long procedure of proposing amendments.
“It’s been an out-of-body experience, but we’ve been working closely with the White House, and we agree on this and we’re working together to try and get it across the finish line,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters.
Reid says Senate Democrats also have issues with the trade promotion authority bill.
“We can talk about TPA. TPA is not the name of the game. I know enough about the trade step to know that there are three very important provisions,” he told reporters. “I feel that if it’s going to be fair, it has to be brought together in one piece of legislation.”
A vote on the TPA legislation will not come to the House floor, Bloomberg News reports, until after Memorial Day recess. In the meantime, around 16 House Democrats have publicly voiced support for the bill.